Once upon a time, I was a member of the StarWars.com boards. I was a fairly new member, and I made my way to the Rogue Squadron Cantina. This was the 5th or so (I don't remember exactly which) incarnation of the Cantina, as the mods frequently closed them down when arguments broke out or some such.

This particular Cantina had been abandoned by all of the veterans and regulars, so the newbies began to take it over. I was Rogue Squad Pilot, and I made a few new friends in the Cantina. We had a good time, and we always stayed within character when in the Cantina thread. We would twirl lightsabers, shoot blasters, and share Tarisian Ale. It was a great place to get to know people.

After a few weeks of this, a few regulars burts into the Cantina and began to yell at us. They claimed we had stolen their Cantina, that we were stupid, and that we should get out. This eventually escalated into an all-out war between the regulars, vets, and newbies. The mods came crashing down on the scene at various points, none of whom were very nice. They almost all disliked all of us, and it wasn't very pretty when they showed up.

Inspired by the friends I had made in the Cantina, and the current conflict taking place therein, I decided to write a fanfic based on it. Flash was my best friend in the Cantina, and there were 4 others that I was close to. These 5, plus myself, make up the core group in the following story. Any user name specifically used in the story was a real member (and may still be) of StarWars.com. Any game reference, like Solitaire, was really played by us when we were bored (other than Sabacc). Any specific weapon preference of any character in the story was so specified by the actual member of StarWars.com. The story, in point, follows very closely to the goings-on of those particular StarWars boards at that time.

The only difference from the real thing is the climax and the ending. The only reason for this is that I was not around to see the conflict resolved (if it ever was), so I had to make that part up. But this was originally dedicated and inspired by the friends and the time I spent in the Rogue Squadron Cantina a long time ago, in a forum far, far away.

I have not taken the time to edit any of the story, be it grammar, punctuation, etc. The story is in its original form. Some of my writing style makes me laugh, as this is 6 years old, but I still find it interesting and enjoyable.

Please note that I now feel the same about you guys! Although I've been here much, much longer, and I consider all of you much better friends than any of those mentioned in the story. Thankfully, though, we've never had to battle anyone other than Darth Elmo, so I'm afraid no such story about us is in the works. Though, who knows, I may write one about something at some point.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Let the story begin:

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Defenders of the Criticized Cantina

Flash and Pilot sat at the bar in the Rogue Squadron Cantina, sipping from their glasses of Tarisian ale. They both played a game of solitaire, trying desperately to win. Pilot hadn't won a game in more than a week, and Flash, well, he'd been cheating by playing with only one card in the deck.
Neither of the Jedi looked up when Trooper walked through the door, sand blowing around him. "What, I don't get a welcoming party?" he said with mock scorn in his voice.
"Ah, we knew it was you," Flash replied.
"Oh, yeah, one of those Jedi things," Trooper said, brushing sand off his armor.
"Yeah, one of those Jedi things," Pilot threw in.
"Well, don't do it. It's rude."
"So sorry," Flash stated, staring intently at the game of solitaire. Pilot twirled around on her bar stool to face Trooper.
"Where ya been? It's been like, what, a week since you came in?"
"Been busy over at Nar Shadda busting up some Hutts," Trooper practically spit the last word.
"Nobody likes Hutts, Trooper," Flash said, still intent on his game. "Who exactly did you bust up?"
"Jabba's second cousin's brother's wife's sister's son," Trooper said without cracking a smile. Not that anyone could have seen it behind his helmet, anyway. Pilot, on the other hand, couldn't contain her laughter.
"A no-namer, huh?" She said, twirling around to face her and Flash's game again.
"Hey, they pay, I kill. No questions asked." Trooper disappeared down the steps into the basement where the different crates of drinks were kept.
"Not very peppy, is he?" Flash asked, taking another sip of his Tarisian ale.
"Who could be after dealing with one of Jabba's relatives?" Pilot asked.
"Did we ever actually establish that it WAS Jabba's relative?" Flash replied. Pilot grinned.
"No, I guess not. But knowing that there isn't a likeable Hutt out there, they must all be related to Jabba in some way."
"True."
They both continued to play their game, seemingly oblivious to the next patron to enter the cantina. He took a seat in a corner, saying nothing, watching everything. But Pilot, not really interested in the game of solitaire, had her force sense turned up high. She turned to face the newcomer.
"So, 501st, why the secrecy?"
"Secrecy?" 501st asked with mock innocence.
"Oh, not really anything, just, you know, never announcing your presence, no one knows your age, you've never told anyone where you're from. Nope, not really anything," Pilot said sarcastically.
"You know, I think 501st used to work for Thrawn," Flash suddenly entered the conversation.
"And what gave you that idea?" Pilot asked.
"His name," Flash said matter-of-factly.
"Heh, I knew that." Pilot said with a smile. She turned to stare suspiciously at 501st. "So, did ya, or what?"
"Did I what?" 501st got up to walk to the bar.
"501st, come on, quit playing with me," Pilot said, frustrated.
"Stop and give my name another thought," he said, glancing down at the game of solitaire. Pilot suddenly gasped as a thought hit her.
"Flash, he couldn't have worked for Thrawn. He worked instead for Parck."
"Why do you think that?" Flash asked, distantly.
"His name," Pilot returned.
"Huh?" Flash had obviously been lost in his game again.
"Never mind!" Pilot threw up her hands and walked off to find out what had happened to Trooper.
501st took Pilot's seat at the bar. "So, how's the game going," he asked, nonchalantly.
"Wonderful, I think I'm stuck...again," Flash replied in frustration. 501st reached over and moved some cards around. Flash stared anew at his game. He quickly moved the rest of the cards into place and dealt them all into their spaces, winning his first round in...well, forever, since he'd never played with three cards in the deck.
"Hey, 501st, where'd you learn to play like that?" Flash asked in awe.
"Flash, my friend, it's a game." 501st reached across the counter to the pitcher of Tarisian ale and poured himself a glass.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But...ah, forget it." Flash drained the last of his ale in a gulp. "Where'd Pilot and Trooper disappear to?"
"Last I saw of Pilot, she was headed down into the basement."

Pilot found Trooper bent over a crate in the back corner of the basement. "Whatcha doin?" She asked.
"Trying to find some water. I know some's around here somewhere. I heard it's pretty expensive over at Mos Eisley, figured since we had some hid away here, might as well make the best use of it."
"Oh, Doug must have hid those crates around here somewhere. He was the last to pull them out." Pilot walked around the basement, brushing dust off some of the crates to be able to read the labels. "Hey, here's something. Says H20. What's that?"
"H20?" Trooper scratched his helmet in thought. "Oh, yeah, that's the water! Some scientific name they gave it. Has to do with hydrogen...no, oxygen...both? Oh, I don't know. But that's it." He came over to heft the crate up onto his shoulder. "Pilot, you see that cooler thing that went with it?"
"Yeah, over there." Pilot made her way to the next stack of crates to retrieve the cooler. They both made their way up the stairs. When they emerged, 501st was teaching Flash how to play sabaac.
"Anybody want some water?" Trooper called.
"Hey, me, me, and me. Dust's getting bad out there. I think we're getting another storm," A new voice called out from the doorway. It belonged to Doug. "Anybody seen Rogue_Nine? Seems like the gang's all here cept for him."
"Nope, haven't seen h..." Pilot was cut off by a blast of sand as the door flew open. Rogue_Nine strode in, covered in sand and grit.
"Where you been?" Trooper called from the bar. He was busy setting up the cooler of water. "Look's to me like you took a trip through the sarlaac and back. You could use some of this water?" He said the last part as a question.
"Yeah, sure could. But no sarlaac. Some dang swoop gang busted up my speeder and dumped me in some quick sand. I managed to get out, using my smarts." Rogue_Nine gladly gulped down the glass of water Trooper handed him. "Busted up the swoop gang when I got back, too. Left them limping and crawling away at best." Rogue_Nine joined Flash and 501st at the table where they were playing sabaac.
"Which one was it?" Pilot asked, curiously.
"Black Ryan. Some new gang of teens from around Mos Espa somewhere. They're amateurs. I just wasn't expecting them when they hit me."
"Why Black Ryan?" Doug asked.
"I dunno. Something to do with the leader's name is Ryan. Maybe they think black makes them sound scary." Rogue_Nine shrugged his shoulders.
"Anybody know where Religuim's at? She pops in every once in awhile," Doug called from behind the bar. He was busy getting some more glasses out.
"Ah, she got herself frozen in carbonite. She's hanging on I think it's that mod Lad's wall," Pilot explained. "She'll be back soon, though. Lad doesn't usually keep them for more than two weeks. He seems to get tired of the same trophy hanging on his wall for too long." Pilot took a sip of her water, glancing around at the friends in the cantina. It was a nice group. And she was glad to be part of it.
Her reverie was suddenly interrupted by the banging open of the door for the second time. Except this time the faces of the two intruders were unknown to all but maybe Doug.
"You guys make me sick," one called.
"And you've defiled our cantina with your presence," the other one said disgustedly. They both pulled out spray paint cans and began to spray the cantina walls with red and black permanent oil paint.
"Hey," Pilot yelled, jumping up and igniting her dual bladed lightsaber. "You can't do that. This is our cantina and we like it like it is." Flash also jumped up from his game of sabaac and activated his two sabers, one in each hand. Trooper promptly grabbed a blaster and leveled it at the graffiti artists.
"Well, we don't, and we think it needs some changes," one of them called over his shoulder. Flash and Pilot advanced slowly on the two, their patience dwindling quickly.
"You drop the paint cans and leave quietly, and nobody gets hurt," Flash warned, circling to the left. Pilot took his cue and circled to the right, Trooper pulling up the center of their semicircle.
The two newcomers suddenly turned, dropped the spray paint cans and activated their sabers. The one on the right had a dual bladed red lightsaber, and the one on the left had one in each hand, one red, one blue. Trooper proceeded to blow some holes in the ceiling. "We said for you to leave. Since you won't, we'll have to take you apart. But may I first ask the names of the beings we are about to mutilate?"
"You won't kill us," the one on the right said. "But I think it is fair that you know our names. I am WN Sith, he is Anakin," he said, gesturing with his lightsaber to the one on the left. By this time, Doug, 501st, and Rogue_Nine had pulled out their preferred weapons and were joining the defending semicircle.
"Well, Sith, it looks like you'll have to fight for this cantina. No one was here, so we took over. If you don't like the way it is, then you can either change it nicely, or die trying to change it forcefully," Pilot called from the right.
"Indeed," Flash said. The semicircle of friends closed even tighter around the two graffiti artists. But suddenly, the intruder on the left, the one called Anakin, shut down his sabers. Sith looked at him in confusion.
"What are you doing?" Sith called frantically. He was now all alone against the six cantina patrons.
"We will fight a greater battle later, when we are more prepared," Anakin declared. Sith reluctantly shut down his saber.
"You're right. We'll bring more...more of the older vets against you. And we WILL destroy you."
"Bring it on!" Trooper called defiantly, blasting more holes in the ceiling. But with their defenses down, the six friends had no choice but to let the two go. Sith and Anakin stalked out of the cantina, the door slamming shut behind them.
"Well that was fun," 501st said dryly, after a few moments of silence. Everyone slowly powered down their weapons and went back to their previous activities. Except for Pilot. She stared sadly at the wall covered in red and black paint.
"How's that gonna come off?" she asked.
"Aw, we should leave it. It'll just be something to prove the battle we'll fight against them soon. And since we'll win, it'll be like battle scars," Trooper said, grinning behind his helmet. He clunked down on a bar stool and began to deal out a round of solitaire. "Wanna play?" he asked to no one in particular.

WN Sith and Anakin walked along under the Tatooine heat, making their way from shadow to shadow to keep from being scorched. Anakin was quiet, while Sith ranted on and on about how hot it was.
"Man, this heat is gonna kill me. I never liked this place anyway. I dunno why we're even fighting these guys for that stupid cantina. We just need to leave this planet altogether."
"Honor," Anakin said, his first word in over an hour.
"Huh?" Sith looked over at him. "What do ya mean, honor?"
"Honor, Sith. Without honor, what point is there to living?" Anakin replied.
"Um, well, there are lots of points to living. Chopping people's heads off, arguing, painting murals on other people's cantina walls. You know, we don't have to do everything for honor. Just cause people don't see us as honorable doesn't mean we can't keep on living," Sith had stopped to lean against the wall of a building, huddling in its shadow. Anakin turned angrily to face him.
"Sith, if people don't see us as honorable, we're just as bad as that scum back there. No one will respect us; no one will take us seriously. Since we can never be trusted, we will be ignored. If everything is done for honor, then there is a pattern to life. A reason. People trust people, and that's just how the galaxy works. Without honor comes disorder. No one trusts anyone else, and you can't be sure if you can trust your own friend. Honor holds life itself together." Sith hunched his shoulders and mumbled under his breath.
"Yeah, well, there sure are lots of people out there who don't do anything honorably."
"Let me put it this way," Anakin grated between clenched teeth. His anger was rising. "If we let those scum bags keep the cantina, we will be seen as cowards who didn't try to fight our way back to power. Even if we lose, which we won't, we will be seen as brave and honorable to have at least tried to gain back the cantina. Do you get it now, Sith?" Anakin spit the last word.
"Yeah, I get it now," Sith mumbled, rubbing the toe of his boot in the sand.

"You know, Trooper," Pilot said from where she sat atop the bar. She was busy staring at the pitted ceiling above the red and black spray paint. "You don't have to blow holes in the ceiling every time we have a fight."
"Well, I have to make an impression," Trooper said innocently.
"But a literal one?" Pilot asked. She heard Flash laugh.
"That's the truth. Trooper always was one for literal impressions."

"Anakin, where are we headed anyway?" Sith asked in a whining tone of voice.
"Back to the original cantina to gather up some old vets."
"But I thought the mods locked the thing up tight," Sith said, confused.
"Just because the mods locked it doesn't mean we can't get back in, Sith," Anakin replied in obvious agitation. "I have my ways for breaking back into places the mods have locked down. And once I open them back up, the vets flock back. So we are going there to find some."
"Oh. Well can't we rent a speeder or something? Walking there is going to take forever."
"If we rent a speeder, idiot, the mods will know, and they will follow us back to the cantina and we'll have a fight on our hands. And right at this moment I don't particularly feel like taking apart some mods. Do you?"
"No, I guess not. Specially since they can't die."
"Yes, I hate that aspect of their existence. No one can kill a mod except a mod. If only there was some way to become one...." Anakin dismissed the thought. "It would be worse to become one to kill one than to simply let them live. To become a mod..." he shuddered at the thought.

Pilot got up and walked to the door of the cantina. She looked around for a minute, then locked the door tight. Returning to her seat at the table, she said nothing. Flash glanced up curiously. "Wha'd ya do that for?" he asked.
"Oh, no particular reason. Just felt like we would be having visitors again soon. Didn't want them to bust in on us. Had enough of those entrances for one day."
"Oh, yeah, one of those Jedi things," Trooper said for the second time that day.
"Yeah, one of those Jedi things," Pilot returned. The three of them laughed.
"Did I miss something?" Doug asked, looking at them suspiciously.
"Nah, just an inside joke," Flash said with a smile. Doug shrugged his shoulders.
Trooper kept fingering the trigger on his blaster. He would point it at the door, fake a shot, and return it to his lap. He repeated this several times before anyone really paid attention. "You seem kinda antzy, Trooper," Rogue_Nine commented.
"Oh, just practicing for the real thing." Trooper continued to repeat his 'practice', during which he also played a game of solitaire. While he was staring off into space, no longer fully interested in the game, there came a pounding on the door. Trooper's blaster flew up to cover the door, spraying shots into the door and ceiling.
"Somebody's trigger happy," 501st said with a laugh. He got up to see who was at the door. Inspecting the hologram that popped up at his touch of a button, he suddenly realized who was pounding, and jumped back, pulling his weapon out. Instinctively the others jumped up and did the same.
"Who's it?" Doug asked.
"The mods." The pounding became louder. Flash and Pilot took up positions on either side of the door. The other four covered the door with their respective weapons. Flash reached out with the Force and triggered the comm system that linked the 'visitors' to the six inside. "What do you want?" 501st asked cautiously.
"What do you think?" Came the sarcastic reply. "We're here for you, and you better open this door, or we'll freeze you all." The voice belonged to Lad.
Pilot momentarily cut off the comm system to comment, "He's not a very nice guy, is he? We'll just have to have some fun with him." She grinned and flipped the system back on. "Freeze us?" She said in mock horror. "Noooo! Not like you did to our friend Religuim." Her voice began to change from sarcastic, to angry, to icy. "You seriously think we'll let you in here after what you did to her? No. And if you can't get in, how will you freeze us, hmmm?"
Lad laughed. "Ha, like you can stay holed up in there forever. And what if I decide not to let Religuim go? Unless, of course, you come out?" He laughed again, but his voice suddenly turned angry. "Open the door now, or we'll blow it down."
The six friends glanced at each other, trying to figure out what to say. Rogue_Nine took over. "We'd come save her, of course. And you know, maybe you could tell us just why you're here before you blow our door down."
"You know, that reminds me of a fairy tale my mom used to tell me when I was young," Doug threw in, playing along with the game Pilot had started. He was referring to very a popular fairy tale that most species heard in their childhood. "I believe there was a big bad wolf, and he was trying to eat some little piggies, but they had locked themselves in their houses. He said something like, 'I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down'. And that's exactly what he did. To the first two pigs. But for the last, the pig outsmarted him, and the wolf died. You see, Lad, you have taken down others, but we are like the third pig. We will outsmart you, and you will die."
Another voice joined Lad's seething rage outside. "Doug, I know that's you in there. You used to be a nice guy, and you could have been one of us. But you had to go and join up with these losers." JTS's voice could be heard over the comm.
"Losers? No, JTS, I believe you're terribly mistaken. For not joining up with these guys...and gal," he put in without more than a second of thought, "I believe it is you who are now the losers." Doug advanced toward the door. "But, by the by, why exactly, did you say you were here again?"
"We didn't," Lad's voice cut icily through the speaker.
"But I guess we could tell them," this time it was Ghent who spoke. "Doug, we heard there's going to be a blood bath. You and the newbies against the vets. Frankly, I don't know who'll win. But we came here to stop it. And these guys think you're the instigators, naturally, so they're here to freeze you for a few weeks till you cool off. No pun intended."
"Us, the instigators?" Trooper practically gasped. "Let me tell you who came busting through our door to paint up our walls!" He lunged at the door, ready to mow down the mods. Only Flash and Pilot's force hold stopped him from completing his task.

Anakin pushed open the rusted door to the original cantina. He and Sith gladly stepped inside to get out of the heat. After a moment or two, their eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, and Anakin was able to make out the other patrons.
"Well look who it is," Maul called from a corner booth. "Long time, no see, man."
"Yes, well, I've been planning for a revolt against the newbies to take back the second cantina. I was foolish enough to rush in the first time, when we weren't ready. But I have come to ask for your help in cutting the scum down." Anakin replied.
"Take back? Take back?!" Maul asked incredulously. "We left, Anakin. We left that cantina to the forces that be. And those newbies took it over. It's not like they stole it from us." Maul glanced around the room to see if there were supporters of his opinion. No one openly agreed. "Besides, that's why we're here. I like this place better anyway."
"But they're...they're...they're defiling the cantina!" Sith spluttered.
"Aw, leave 'em alone, Sith," Maul said nonchalantly. "They haven't done anything. They're just kids. Let 'em grow up. Maybe then you'll like them better."
"Seems some of our party are still kids, too," Maul heard Chickenman mutter under his breath. Maul tried to suppress a smile, but wasn't too successful.
"Anakin, you're going to have to get somebody else to help you out. Me and Maul aren't going to help you slaughter those kids. They haven't done anything to provoke us to anger. Looks to me like you just don't want a cantina not under your control." Chickenman looked around. "I'm afraid we're going to have to try and stop you. I don't want to see them mutilated for no good reason. Who's with me and Maul here?" Many hands raised, but then there were many that didn't.
"Fine," Anakin said angrily, "But I'll get help from some of the other vets. Who's with me?" A show of hands went up around the room. There were a few, though, that hadn't joined either side. Rogue_Leader204 slowly pulled himself to his feet.
"Me, I'm not joining either of ya'll. If you ask me, you're both just like those kids at the new cantina, willing to fight for what you think is yours. I don't see how you're all that different. So, Anakin, I will not be helping you fight. Maul, I wish you the best of luck in your stand, but I'm afraid I can't help you, either. I see both of your parties as the kids you're going to destroy or defend. I am going to allow you to have your fun. I built that new cantina, and I don't think one party or another should own it, but rather that they should share it. But since I could never get you to agree with me just by telling you my opinion, I will let you decide on your own how to divide it amongst yourselves. And I see this fight as a way for you to learn what really should be done, and from there to decide." Many of the older vets stood to join with Rogue_Leader204.
And so the three divided parties stood, staring at one another. One with anger, one with the hunger to defend, and one with an amused stance, ready to watch the other two parties tear at each other's throats.

Trooper struggled in the force hold. "Let me go. I'll rip their throats out!" he growled.
"We know," Pilot said dryly.
"Now calm down," Flash soothed, "And we'll let you down." Trooper's struggles slowed.
"Why can't I kill 'em? They were gonna kill us!" He glared through his helmet at Flash.
"No they weren't. They were going to freeze us." Flash spoke patiently to Trooper.
"Same thing," Trooper mumbled, all struggling ceased.
"No, it's not. We were just going to calm you down for a couple of weeks and then we would let you go." Ghent spoke over the comm.
Flash and Pilot released their force hold on Trooper, dumping him unceremoniously onto the floor. "But, Ghent," Pilot called calmly, "We didn't do anything."
"No?!" Lad yelled angrily. "You instigated this whole fight that's going to take place!"
"No, Doug, we didn't. You just ask Sith and Anakin and I'm sure they'll admit they started the whole thing." Rogue_Nine spoke up from the back of the group. "They're too proud to lie about it."
"Sith, I can see," Ghent called. "But Anakin? He wouldn't do something like that."
"We know," Pilot returned. "But he's also the one who stopped the whole thing by saying they'd come back later when they were ready."
"OK, that does sound like him," Ghent said thoughtfully. "Look, Lad, maybe we should check it out a little more before we freeze 'em."
"Yeah," Trooper yelled toward the comm. "Maybe you should."
"But, Ghent, we know they did it." Lad sounded like he was giving in slightly.
"No we don't, Lad. We just have that kid, Jeedai's, word." Ghent spoke reasoningly.
"Jeedai?!" Rogue_Nine called incredulously. "Jeedai's an airhead!"
"True, "Ghent mumbled. "All right, look, we'll come back if we find out you did start the whole thing."
"Fine," Lad grunted.
"It's settled then," Pilot said cheerily. "We'll see you lovely people later." With a nudge of the force she shut off the comm.
Trooper picked himself up off the floor, where he'd been sitting since Pilot and Flash had dumped him there. "You know, Rouge_Nine, Jeedai's a good girl. Why'd you call her an airhead?"
"I know, I know. I only said that to get them off us. They think we're ALL airheads. She's a great girl. I just wonder why she would say something like that about us to the mods," Rouge_Nine mumbled in thought. No one answered him.
Slowly they all powered down their weapons and wandered back to their preferred seats.

Pilot polished her lightsaber hilt for what seemed like the one hundredth time. Doug stared at her, amused. "Pilot, is polishing that thing into nothingness going to make it any more effective?"
"No," Pilot admitted loftily, "But I try to pretend it does." She looked up to see Trooper sitting idly on a barstool.
"Pilot," Trooper said curiously, coming to sit beside her. "Being the only girl here, what do you think of Jeedai ratting on us? She being a girl also, I thought you might be more able to figure her out."
"Oh, that," Pilot replied nonchalantly, "So that's what's been bothering you?"
"Bothering me?" Trooper asked. "Who said anything was bothering me?"
"No one had to. I could tell." Pilot didn't even look up at him. She continued to polish her saber hilt.
"How?" Trooper demanded.
"Simple. You were sitting there on the stool unmoving. You are always moving, Trooper. To be sitting still, something must have been on your mind." She glanced up at him, attempting to study his face through his helmet.
"Oh," Trooper glanced down at his hands distractedly. His head suddenly snapped back up to look at Pilot. "But you never answered my question. What do you think of Jeedai ratting on us?"
"She didn't."
"What?!" Every head in the cantina jerked around to look at Pilot.
"What's this, Pilot?" 501st asked. "What do you mean, 'she didn't'?"
"Just what I said," Pilot replied, looking at them all curiously. "Jeedai didn't rat on us. Why does that surprise any of you?"
"Well, it doesn't," Flash said. "But, Ghent did say it was her."
"And Ghent's a mod," Pilot said, as if this explained everything. She brought her saber hilt to her face and studied it carefully, checking for smudges.
"Yes, but Ghent's also the nicest mod around town." Rouge_Nine looked questioningly at Pilot. "Are you trying to say that he lied to us?"
"MmmHmmm," Pilot looked around at them. "Guys, think about it. All mods lie to get their way. Even a nice guy like Ghent will do so when the pressure's on. He had Lad and JTS breathing down his neck. I'm sure they'd told him to say it, and he had to to look good. Jeedai, on the other hand, is our friend. She would not rat on us. So who do you believe? Jeedai, or the mods?" Pilot looked around at them, waiting for an answer. They didn't hesitate long.
"Jeedai," Flash said, looking ashamed. The rest echoed their agreement.
"Sorry we doubted her," Doug said, looking at Pilot respectfully. "Hey, Pilot, you got a good head. Hang on to it."
Pilot looked at Doug curiously. "Sure thing."
"It's his way of saying, 'don't get killed,'" Trooper said, smiling behind his helmet.
Pilot smiled. She really did like these guys. "I wasn't planning to."

Grabbing a blaster, Anakin passed it to Sith to drop in the pile of weapons they had been accumulating. "Hey, Anakin, where'd you get all this stuff anyway?" Sith called curiously.
"I've been stockpiling it for awhile just in case. My lightsaber's all I'm going to need or use, but this is for the guys who are coming along. And we need to be prepared. Maul's pretty good with a saber, and I know that Flash and his gang can do some damage when they want to." Anakin glanced at Sith. "Have you ever fought any of these guys?"
"Me and Chickenman had a little scuffle a couple weeks ago, but the mods broke it up before anybody could be determined the winner."
"Well, I know these guys are good, and we're going to need to be careful. But if we take them right, they'll be easy enough to take down. Especially with the support we've gotten."
"Yeah, but Maul's got a pretty nice size group of his own." Sith looked a little worried.
"Don't worry about him. None of his group besides him and Chickenman have done any fighting since the original cantina was up and running."
"But aren't all of his recruits Jedi?"
"Whether they are or not makes no difference, Sith. Are you skilled with a saber?"
"Yes." Sith looked questioningly at Anakin.
"Then quit worrying about it. We're going to take that group of scum out so fast they won't know what hit 'em," Anakin said assuredly. "We have nothing to fear from Maul. He was a Sith at one time, but he dropped out and joined the Jedi ranks. That right there shows failure. He will be the first to go. And as for Chickenman, he gets so excited he usually doesn't pay attention to what he's doing. Like I said, don't worry."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Anakin," Sith didn't sound too sure.
"Now let's get these weapons over to the guys so we can practice a little. I want everyone with a lightsaber sparring, and everyone with a blaster doing target practice and working on concentration during chaos. We take the cantina tomorrow." Anakin grinned, a fire in his eyes. Sith just looked at him, the confidence that had surrounded him the day before was completely gone. He wasn't too sure about this raid anymore. The newbies just had too much support. And they weren't as skill less as Anakin was claiming. He hoped everything would be OK like Anakin said, but he just wasn't sure anymore. You never knew what could happen.

"Alright, boys, let's get this party started!" Maul called excitedly, igniting his glowing red double blade and lunging for Chickenman. Chickenman had anticipated the move and had his own double bladed green saber out in time to catch the blow. All around the room sabers came to life and began clashing against each other. Maul had called for a little practice session. Everyone found a partner and would spar until Maul called a halt. Being in the same room together with ten other pairs of sparring Jedi would prove to test their ability to its limits. The session would require intense concentration, and it would prepare them for the battle ahead.

Ghent, Lad, JTS and a handful of other mods lounged around on repulsor couches inside their headquarters. Lad was attempting to sleep, JTS was studying a datapad, and Ghent was fiddling with his repulsor chair controls. "Ghent!" JTS said sharply. "Would you stop it! I'm over here trying to study this report and all I can see is you over there going up and down, up and down."
"Sorry," Ghent muttered.
"Yes, the droning of the repulsors was nice at first; it was putting me to sleep. But now it's only getting annoying." Lad opened one eye to glance at Ghent. "Something bothering you?"
"Ah, I just keep thinking of what I said to the newbs. I lied to them about Jeedai."
"Hey, get over it. We lie to them all the time."
"Oh, I know that. I was just thinking that when they figure out I lied to them; it'll probably get them pretty riled up. We might have more trouble with them now than we did in the first place."
"Hey," Lad said, opening his other eye. "Like I said, we lie to them all the time and they know it, too. They probably knew right off you were lying about Jeedai. It won't bother them, trust me. They don't trust us at all. Lying to them isn't going to damage our reputation any." Lad lay back on the couch and shut his eyes.
"If you say so." Ghent set his repulsor couch on the floor and got up. "I'm going to go surf the holonet. See what's up in other parts of the galaxy."
"Sure," JTS called. Everyone else simply continued with their activities.

Pilot and Flash were sweating profusely when there was a knock on the cantina door. Their sabers locked above their heads in a stall, neither was willing to move to answer the door. "Hey Trooper, could you get that?" Flash called, panting. "On second thought, Doug, would you do the honors?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid of what Trooper might do to our visitors," Pilot said through gritted teeth. She wouldn't be able to hold up against Flash much longer. But as she could see, his strength was ebbing fast as well. Suddenly Flash's green blade slipped and Pilot was able to force her double bladed saber around in a slash at his midsection. But Flash had already recovered and had his blade out to meet the incoming slash. Lashing out with the green blade he sought to take off Pilot's right arm. Only in appearance, of course. But she flipped his blue saber off her own and twirled the other end of her blade around to meet the attack.
As they fought, Doug checked to see who their visitors were. He heaved a sigh of relief. It was only Maul and company. Unlocking the door and ushering them in, Doug noticed the curious expression that appeared on almost all twenty-two Jedi faces. He glanced in the direction they were staring. All were transfixed on the battle between Flash and Pilot.
"Did we get here late?" one managed to ask.
"Naw, they're just practicing. Don't you guys ever spar against each other?" Doug waited patiently for an answer. Finally Maul tore his eyes from the battle long enough to reply.
"Oh, yeah, it's just we really don't know you new guys too well, and so we weren't sure if they were friends or enemies."
"Yeah, pretty good friends at that. They're the only Jedi in the group. Well, cept for Religuim, but she's frozen at the moment."
"Oh," Maul replied, not sounding like he'd comprehended too much of that last sentence. "They're pretty good," he said at length.
"Yeah, that they are." Doug watched as Pilot finally got an opening to slip her saber in towards Flash's right leg. Stopping a few inches away, she killed the blade.
Smiling all the time, she matter-of-factly stated, "I win." Laughing she turned and walked to a seat, collapsing into it. Flash reluctantly shut down his sabers, pretending to be upset.
"Man, I hate it when you win. Beaten by a girl. It's just against the laws of the galaxy!" Pilot just laughed at him, along with a few of the newcomers.
"So, what are you guys here for?" Pilot asked.
"Oh, sorry. We're here to help you defend the cantina against Anakin, Sith, and the support they've gathered." Chickenman looked around to see the newbs' reactions. All were smiling. Except for 501st who never smiled. And Trooper, of course, was hidden behind his helmet. But his next statement proved his excitement.
"Alright! The more the merrier." Pulling out his blasters, he aimed them towards the ceiling.
"Trooper!" Pilot yelled.
"Huh?" Trooper stopped, fingers partially depressing the triggers.
"At least wait until the battle starts before you blow the ceiling apart." She looked at him sadly.
"Oh, OK, sure." He slipped the blasters back into their holsters.
"Well, I guess all we do now is wait," Rogue_Nine said from behind the bar. "Anybody care for a drink?" A chorus of affirmatives could be heard as the crowd headed toward the counter.

Pilot, Flash, Trooper, Maul and Chickenman sat around a table discussing the coming battle. "So, do we let them in? Or let them blow the door down?" Maul asked.
"Let 'em blow the door down!" Trooper said excitedly. "I'll be waiting on the other side." He had a sudden impulse to pull his blasters, which he began to do. But a warning look from Pilot made that sudden impulse disappear.
One of Maul's younger recruits rushed in the door. "They're coming! They'll be here in less than ten minutes!" he panted excitedly.
Flash quickly took charge. "Alright everybody, don't panic, act normal, and nobody, repeat nobody, activate a weapon before our signal. Got that?" Heads nodded and most voiced an affirmative.
Trooper stood and waved one of his blasters in the air. "To us!" he cried.
"To us!" everyone echoed, activated sabers and blasters raised toward the ceiling. When the cheers died down, the defenders powered down their weapons and got as comfortable as they could to wait for the arrival of Anakin and company.

"Five minutes!" Sith yelled into the comlink. Cries of excitement came back to him over the link. "They're powered up and ready, Anakin!" Sith called to the person sitting in front of him on his swoop bike.
"Good!" Anakin called back. "Tell Gar to have his detonators ready to take out the door when we get there. I highly doubt they're going to let us waltz right in." Sith relayed the message to Gar. A couple minutes later the cantina came into view.
"There it is!" one of the recruits yelled. Cheers erupted down the line.
"Let's take 'em!" Gar cried as he leapt off his swoop bike and headed toward the door with his explosives. The rest of the group followed him. They were hungry for battle and ready to do some damage. Kneeling beside the cantina door, Gar began setting up his explosives to blow the door in.

The defenders could hear Anakin and his group outside yelling and cheering. There were also the sounds of Gar at the door, planting the detonators. "This is going to cost us a door, you know," Pilot said dryly.
"When we get done with this, it's going to cost us a lot of things," Doug replied.
Suddenly, the cheering and yelling was replaced by the scrambling of Anakin's group getting themselves away from the door.
"Everybody away from the door!" Flash yelled. "Make a path, it'll probably fly inward!" Sure enough, not ten seconds later, with a planet-shattering BOOM, the cantina door flew clear across the room to slam into the bar. But no one was paying attention to the door, their eyes were focused on the two figures striding confidently into the cantina, followed by twenty-six men who were ready and willing to either slice or blow some heads off. Weapons held at the ready, but not activated, Anakin and Sith came forward.
"Alright, we're going to state our purpose here, and then get on with it," Anakin said. "We want this cantina back from the scum that stole it, and if you don't hand it over peacefully, we'll have to take it by force. Now, what's it going to be?" When the defenders only settled into a ready stance, Anakin nodded. "Fine, then, if that's the way you want it." He activated his two sabers. The rest of his group immediately followed suit. None of the defenders, however, so much as moved.
"Let's lay some ground rules first, Anakin," Pilot said, coming forward. Flash stepped up to join her. "Rule number one, no one is to intentionally kill anyone else in this room, OK? We're here to defend, and you're here to take. No one is here to kill. Got it?" Pilot's and Maul's groups nodded.
"Fine," Anakin said, motioning his recruits with blasters to set them on stun, "But if anyone is stupid enough to step in front of one of my sabers, it will not be my fault if his head comes off."
"Fair enough," Pilot returned. "But the mods will barely tolerate this battle, and any intentional killing will get us all thrown into the carbon chamber...for a long, long time," she added thoughtfully.
"Let's get on with it!" someone from Anakin's group cried. Pilot, Flash, and the rest of their group only stared at him. After about a minute of tense waiting, Flash's two sabers as well as Pilot's double blade snapped on suddenly. The rest of the defenders quickly activated their own weapons. Still, though, no one moved.
Anakin looked over the entire group of cantina scum, then around at his troops. "Have fun," he said icily. And that was all it took. The two groups were on top of each other in a matter of seconds, fighting with all they had.

"No, no, be careful! Watch out for that table! Ugghhhh...!" Rogue_Leader204 cried in frustration. He threw his hands in the air. "Look, just set it gently on the counter there and let me have it. Yes, OK, now step away from the screen, please." His 'helpers' did as he asked. Walking over to the counter, Rogue_Leader204 adjusted the holovid screen to how he liked it. Playing with some controls somewhere on the back, he got the thing to turn on. "Channel three," he said to the vid screen. It immediately jumped to a picture of the second cantina. "Channel four." The vid screen switched to a view of the interior of the cantina...in total chaos.
"Hey, how'd you do that?" Mike asked. The rest of the people in the room had gathered around the vidscreen to watch the battle raging in the second Rogue Squadron cantina.
"I built the place," Rogue_Leader204 said matter-of-factly. "Of course I installed some vidrecorders in it so I would know what was going on whenever I wanted." The faces in the room showed looks of excitement.
"Alright, who's got the popcorn?" Mike called.
"What?" Darth Fett looked at him incredulously. "What's popcorn?"
"Yeah, what's popcorn?" someone else echoed. Everyone turned to Mike for an answer.
"Oh, uh, nothing. Just a food where I come from that we always eat when watching a holovid. Just tradition, I guess." He looked at the floor, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, OK, but I doubt we have any," Fett said. By then they'd all turned back to the vid screen. Maul could be seen in a heated battle with Gar, both of them holding double-bladed red sabers. From looking closely, Rogue_Leader204 could see that all Jedi and/or Sith in Anakin's group were shielding the troopers with blasters from the saber blades of the defenders. In the meantime, the 'blaster' troops were trying desperately to stun some of the distracted Jedi. But it was too early in the battle, the Jedi were having no trouble blocking sabers and stun bolts at the same time. Soon, though. Soon, they might be able to drop some. It was just a matter of time.

Pilot cried out in pain. Anakin had managed to cut her shoulder with his blue saber, but she wasn't ready to back down just yet. Calling on the Force to strengthen her arm, she lunged at Anakin with her dual blue blade, aiming for his inner right leg. Surprised that she'd come back so quickly, Anakin wasn't quite ready. He was able to deflect most of her blow, but the searing blade still sliced into his leg quite deep. Collapsing onto one knee, Anakin called upon the powers of the dark side to help him. Hurling one of his sabers at Pilot, he sliced at her with the other, and sent Force lighting toward her midsection with his free hand, the whole while keeping a Force shield around himself. By now, however, Pilot had sunken quite deep into the Force. The saber blade flying toward her seemed to move in slow motion. Batting it aside, she slashed back to the other blade coming toward her unwounded shoulder. Because Anakin was holding this one, however, it took a little longer for her to force it aside. At the same time, the opposite side of her dual blade managed to catch a lot of the Force lighting, but not enough. It knocked her back into another Jedi, and she fell to the floor, stunned and in pain. Thankfully, Anakin had spent all his available energy in the three sided attack, as well as the personal shield. He was out of commission for a few minutes as well. She hoped fervently that Anakin would not be the first to recover. Pilot knew full well that he realized the rule she'd set, and she also knew that Anakin would honor that rule. But he would also stretch it to its limits, not caring if he took off an arm or a leg in his anger. Yes, she certainly hoped he would not be the first to recover.
In the meantime, Flash was busy fighting Sith, Flash's two blades blocking Sith's dual blade quite nicely. Both were doing well, and so far neither had managed to strike a blow.
Chickenman had engaged in picking off the offenders with blasters. Watching for a stun blot, he would quickly deflect it, more or less aiming it back towards its owner. Every once in a while he would succeed, but most times he did not. It was worth something, though, as long as it kept the stun bolts off the Jedi.

Pilot reached deep inside herself, harnessing the Force as she'd never done before. With a sudden surge of energy, she lunged upward, dual blades blazing to life. Anakin hadn't quite recovered yet and was only able to block her attack half-heartedly. Aiming for his left blade, Pilot sliced toward the handle. Anakin was able to deflect the blow, but only slightly. With a twist of her wrist, Pilot flipped her saber around and sliced through Anakin's other blade hilt. Anakin let it fall to the floor with a clatter, grasping his other hilt firmly with both hands.
"Nobody threatens my friends and gets away with it, " Pilot said, eyes blazing.
"Well I'm not nobody," Anakin grated, glaring at her. He stood to his feet unsteadily, standing ready with his lightsaber. With all her strength, Pilot brought her blue blade down on Anakin's remaining saber. He was able to resist her for a few precious seconds, but his energy was gone, and his saber quivered. In that instant Pilot shoved down on her blade, sliding it down to the hilt of Anakin's lightsaber. Slicing cleanly through the hilt, she brought the blade back up and cut deep into his left shoulder. With a flip of her wrists, she sliced into his right shoulder with the other end of her blade. Anakin collapsed onto the floor, clearly out of the fight. He glared at her, unwilling to admit his defeat.
Pilot brought her blade to Anakin's throat, stopping only a hair's breadth away, enough to singe his neck. "Like I said, nobody,” she stated quietly, her face a mask of anger and contempt. With a last look at his helpless form, Pilot turned away, searching for another willing opponent.

Flash and Sith were still going at it, fervently lunging and blocking, each looking for an opening to disable the other. Sith found his chance. Flash's two blades were held high in a lock against Sith's dual blade. But after a minute in this stance, his arms began to tire, and his grip weakened. With a shove, Sith sent Flash's blades away from his own, giving him the microsecond he needed to flip his saber around and cut into Flash's side. With a cry of pain, Flash doubled over, his sabers deactivated. Stopping long enough to gloat, however, was where Sith went wrong. This gave Flash time to recover enough to block Sith's next move. Angry and in pain, Flash's strength surged back. Ignoring the searing pain in his side, he lunged for Sith, attacking without mercy. Sith, surprised, managed to keep Flash at bay, but he was being steadily pushed back. With grim determination, Flash feinted to Sith's right shoulder. When Sith brought his dual saber up to block, he left his right leg unprotected. Bringing his left saber down and around, Flash cut into Sith's thigh. Sith collapsed onto one knee. Flash continued his attack. Swinging his two sabers, he cut once into Sith's side and at the same time sliced deep into Sith's left shoulder. Without slowing, Flash brought his left saber around and cut into Sith's left leg. His legs useless and the rest of his body in pain, Sith fell back onto the floor. Releasing his saber, he allowed it to clatter to the floor, staring at Flash in complete confusion.
"I thought..." Sith started, "Anakin said you were no good."
"Anakin lied," Flash said with a smirk. Realizing his side was still in pain, Flash put a hand to it and looked down. "You do your share, though. That I can assure you."
It was Sith's turn to smirk. "Yeah, I'm not too bad at that."
"Nice dueling with you," Flash replied. Turning, he began to assess the state of the battle raging around him.

"Lad, Ghent!" a citizen was banging on the door to the mod headquarters. Reluctantly getting up from his place on the repulsor couch, Lad checked the door. It was their mole. The citizen who came around tattling on everyone and everything. Lad didn't much like him, but he did provide good information, and that was the only reason he was tolerated. He had never offered a name, and the mods had never bothered to ask for one. They simply called him Mole.
"Hello in there!" the man continued to shout.
"Who is it this time?" JTS called wearily, not even bothering to look up from his datapad.
"Mole." Lad sounded as aggravated as he felt. "I really don't feel like talking to him right now."
"Then tell him to go away."
Lad considered this for a minute, then shrugged. Reaching for the comm switch, he sighed heavily. "Hey, look, Mole, not this time, OK, we're not in the mood."
"But, Lad, I've got some important news!" Mole was almost jumping around, barely able to contain himself.
"Well not today for sale, OK?" Lad reached to switch off the comm unit and was prepared to get someone to show the man away. Lad doubted he would leave on his own. Mole's next sentence stopped him in mid action, however.
"The vets and the newbs are going at it in the new cantina!"
"Say that again?" Lad asked, suddenly interested.
"The vets!" Mole repeated. "Well, Anakin's group, anyway. They're fighting the newbs and Maul."
"Why Maul?"
"Maul and Chickenman and their guys joined up with the newbs to fight against Anakin!" By now the mole was running out of breath.
"When did this happen?"
"They just started a little bit ago. When I left for here...they were...still going at it. If you leave now...you might..." Mole began to pant, "could stop them or something."
"Alright, thanks, Mole." Lad shut off the comm and went hurrying back to the other mods. None of them seemed to have heard the conversation. "JTS, Ghent, listen up!" Lad looked around and realized Ghent was nowhere to be seen. He suddenly remembered Ghent saying something about checking out the holonet. Turning to face another room in the headquarters, Lad shouted, "Ghent, get yourself in here!"
"Why? I'm busy," Ghent complained, his voice drifting in from the other room.
"No, you're not, you're just surfing. Now get in here." Mumbling, Ghent came sulking into the room and leaned against JTS's couch.
"What?"
"There's a..." Lad looked down at JTS and realized he was still paying attention to his datapad and probably hadn't heard a word. "JTS!" he said sharply. JTS looked lazily up at Lad, his expression asking what was so important that he had to be bothered. "There's an all-out war going on at the new cantina!" Lad began again. He continued to explain everything Mole had told him. JTS, as well as the other mods occupying the room, was suddenly very attentive.
"So what are we going to do?" a voice called from the back of the room.
"Go stop them of course!" Lad replied. "Now come on, we've got to get over there before they all kill each other." Hurrying towards the door, Lad looked back to see the other mods all jumping up to follow him...except for Ghent. He was still sulking along. Oh, well, he was still a kid. He'd learn one day.

Kneeling behind an overturned table, Trooper changed out the power paks on his blasters. He'd already used up three from each one. Maybe he should actually start aiming at something. It could help. Peeking out behind the table, he saw a man from Anakin's group aiming his blaster at Doug. At the moment, Doug was engaged in other matters and obviously didn't notice the blaster aimed at his back. Snapping his blaster up and firing a shot before he even consciously thought about it, Trooper watched the man sink to the floor, stunned and out of the fight. Smiling behind his helmet, he began searching for more targets. Aiming and scoring, he decided, could be as much fun as recklessly blowing holes in the cantina ceiling.

Rogue_Nine's blaster lay useless on the floor beside him. The tip had been sheared off by a lightsaber, and the offender now had his blade held high, ready to put Rogue out of the fight. Bracing himself inwardly, Rogue_Nine watched as the green blade flashed down towards his face. It didn't look like this particular guy was going to heed the rule of 'no killing'. Reflexively throwing his arms up to protect his head, Rogue watched as a purple blade intercepted the green saber inches above him. Peeking out from under his arms, he watched as Doug held off the offender with his purple lightsaber. Not daring to move, Rogue was in the process of trying to lie completely still when he suddenly remembered to take a breath. He hadn't realized that he'd been holding it for all those seconds when he thought he was going to die.
"Looks like someone forgot the one and only rule," Doug said angrily to the offender. With a shove, he knocked the green saber off of his own and brought it around towards the offender's side. The green saber's owner blocked the move. "Maybe we should teach him a lesson."
"Sorry,” the offender growled. "I was too pumped up, I forgot."
"Well this is your only warning. And you better be glad Rogue_Nine here didn't get killed. Otherwise I'd have to avenge him." Doug inclined his head in Rogue's direction. "Isn't that right, Rogue?"
In answer to the question, Rogue scrambled up off the floor and took out the vibroblade he'd had strapped to his thigh. He flashed it in the offender's face.
"Vibroblades are no match for a saber," the offender sneered.
"Which is why I'm going to let Dougie here take over. Have fun!" Rogue smirked at the offender, enjoying the surprised look he betrayed for a moment. Angrily, the offender swung his saber at Rogue's head. Doug easily caught the blow on his own blade.
"I told you, only one warning. Now I'll have to punish you. Go on Rogue, I've got this one covered." Doug began to press his attack against the offender. And it was clear Doug was the better of the two. Leaving the two to their duel, Rogue ducked and fought his way through the crowd until he was crouched behind Trooper's table.
"Hey, can I borrow one of those?" Rogue asked, indicating the blasters Trooper was holding. Hesitating only a second, Trooper tossed Rogue a blaster.
"Sure, make me proud." Together they turned back to the battle and began sighting out different targets.

Braking his speeder to a stop, Lad hopped out and strode down the street towards the second cantina. The other mods followed suit. JTS had come armed with detonators, prepared to blow the door down if need be. When they rounded the corner, however, Lad could see there was no need. There was no longer a door to blow.
The clash of lightsabers, the whine of blasters, and the cries of different sentients assaulted the mods' ears. Cautiously, Lad advanced on the door. Before he could close enough to see inside, a figure came rolling out the door, almost bowling Lad over. Jumping up, the man held his vibroblade high and raced back into the cantina with a war cry.
"Ghent, why don't you peek in there and see what exactly's happening," Lad called over his shoulder.
"Yeah, right, are you nuts?!" Ghent stared at Lad in disbelief. "You know good and well what's happening, and I'm not going to risk my life confirming it for you. You can do it yourself." Lad stared at Ghent for a minute, then realized that he had a point. Trying once again for the door, he was almost nailed by a stun bolt that came whizzing past his ear.
"Doesn't look like we're going to be able to stop this one, boys," JTS told the group. "We'll just have to wait this one out and catch them as they leave." The crowd of mods voiced their agreement. Going back to their speeders, they settled in to wait for the battle's conclusion.

"Channel five," Mike called to the vid screen. The picture on the screen went fuzzy.
"Mike, what are you doing?!" Fett exclaimed.
"I'm trying to get a different view. I'm tired of watching the same few people."
"How do you know there is another view?"
"Because Leader switched between them when he first turned it on."
"Leader!"
"Yeah?" Leader called from another room. He'd gotten tired of the battle and had left for awhile.
"How many views does your little vid thing have?"
"Two!"
"Well which channel were we watching?"
"Channel three...no, four!" But the vid screen had heard his voice and already switched to channel three, showing a view of the outside of the cantina and the surrounding streets. Before anyone could change it, Fett noticed that a bunch of speeders were parked around the corner of the cantina. He couldn't quite make out who it was, but there were a lot of the whoever-they-were.
"Leader, I think you might want to check this out!" Fett yelled to Rogue_Leader204. He heard footsteps and Leader appeared behind him.
"What?"
"Who's that?" Fett asked, pointing to the screen. Leader squinted, leaning in closer.
"Zoom in," Rogue_Leader204 addressed the screen. The speeders and their occupants were suddenly twice as close as before. There was a collective gasp as everyone realized who it was.
"It's the mods!" a voice called from the huddled group. "They're waiting to bust 'em up when they come out!"
"I've got to get over there and stop 'em," Mike said determinedly, heading for the door. A hand fell on his shoulder.

Continued in the next post..._________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Last edited by Mara Jade Skywalker on Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:26 pm; edited 2 times in total

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:22 pm

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 5694Location: Beyond Shadows

Continued from the above post:

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"Mike, you know they won't listen to you. They kicked you out, remember?" Leader was looking Mike in the eyes. Mike ducked his head.
"I try not to."
"Mike, you were a mod?" Fett asked incredulously.
"Yeah, but they kicked me out. Said I was a hothead."
"You still are!" Fett said, laughing. "But I'm sure glad you're not with them anymore."
Mike looked up to see that everyone in the room was nodding in agreement with Fett. "Hey, yeah, I suppose I should be glad I'm not with them. They're a bunch of jerks anyways."
"Thata boy," Fett said, thumping Mike on the back.
"Alright, I know they'll listen to me, or at least give me a chance, so I'm gonna go see what I can do." Leader headed out the door. He wasn't ready to let the mods arrest his boys...and girls. He'd watched them all start from the same point, and they'd all gone their own ways. They had to find their place on their own. And he wasn't about to allow the mods to punish them for doing what they needed to do. They could fix their own problems, and this was their way of doing it. No reason to freeze them for it. If they lost, then they'd learn their lesson. If they won, then they were right. It was that simple. Blast those mods. They didn't have to meddle in everything. You leave them the little stuff and they think they own it all.

Rogue_Nine fell back onto the floor, somewhat stunned. Shaking his head to clear it, he noticed that Trooper was on the ground, not moving. With the cobwebs gone, Rogue realized that they'd been hit with a stun bolt, Trooper obviously taking the brunt of it. Getting up, Rogue reached for his helmet. He needed to check Trooper, make sure he was only stunned, that nothing was critical. He'd have to take Trooper's helmet off, and Rogue had never seen his face before. Come to think of it, no one had. Rogue's hand was just beginning to tug at the helmet when a white armored hand grabbed his own.
"That's OK, Rogue, I'm fine." Trooper sat up, and Rogue got the feeling Trooper was smiling at him behind his helmet.
"But I didn't get to see your face," Rogue complained. Trooper laughed.
"I know, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"But wh...." Rogue_Nine was interrupted by a stun bolt flying over his head. Putting his curiosity aside for the moment, Rogue focused back on the fight. He would interrogate Trooper later.
Rogue checked the charge on his blaster. Empty. He'd have to get a new one. Turning to Trooper, Rogue_Nine started to ask for a power pak. Before he could begin, something slashed down past his ear. Swinging around, he looked up at an offender. Bringing his vibro blade down once more, the offender leapt over the fallen table, aiming for Rogue's ear. Rogue_Nine ducked and brought his own vibro blade up and around to block the offender's next move. It didn't seem that he would be using that blaster any time soon. He kicked it over to Trooper. Trooper picked it up and continued to watch Rogue and the other man fight for a few seconds, then turned back to his blaster, concentrating on getting it a new power pack.

501st crouched silently behind the bar. He preferred the sniper approach. With his new sniper rifle, equipped with infrared scope and longer lasting power pack, 501st was downing a pretty fair amount of Anakin's troops. His rifle also had a stun setting, notably more powerful than a regular blaster's stun bolt. The Sith were the ones he was having trouble shooting. Most of the offenders carrying blasters had been eliminated, but the Sith still posed a threat. They could sense his bolts coming, and it was difficult to score. The two he had been able to graze had recovered within seconds. He'd have to let the Jedi take care of the Sith until they were all too tired to notice his bolts flying toward them. For now there were still a few blaster carriers to take out. Focusing his scope on a particular man hiding behind an overturned table, 501st waited for the opportune moment to take him. Hopefully, this battle would be over soon. He was getting tired of shooting people. It just wasn't his type of sport. But for the cantina, 501st supposed he could sacrifice some of his time. And for his friends. Yes, he couldn't forget that he was fighting for his friends. With this revelation, 501st was suddenly more determined than ever to win this battle.

The battle seemed to be winding down, Mike thought nervously. Pilot, Flash, and Doug had taken out a number of the Sith, as had Maul's group. The newbs with blasters and the one sniper rifle he'd seen had taken out a considerable amount of the offending 'blaster' troops. He had noticed one of the newbs engaged in hand to hand combat with an offender, both of them brandishing vibro blades.
Where was Rogue_Leader204? If he didn't get there soon, those guys were going to start stumbling out of the fight only to be frozen in carbonite.
Switching impatiently back and forth between views, Mike watched expectantly for Leader to arrive, simultaneously urging the sentients in the cantina to continue fighting for just a bit longer.
With a sigh of relief, Mike watched Rogue_Leader204 pull up next to the mods on his speeder. You tell 'em, Mike thought, as he watched Leader engage in conversation with Lad and JTS.

"Lad, what are you doing here?" Rogue_Leader204 asked.
"What does it look like?"
"I know. And I don't like it. I don't want you freezing these guys when they're done. Don't you think they're causing themselves enough pain already?"
Lad shrugged. "So?"
"So leave them alone! Do you really think you're going to have any trouble out of them after this? Whoever loses will learn their lesson, and the winner will have no reason to push the matter. Just let them go, that's all I'm asking."
"I dunno, Leader..."
"Lad, are they hurting you or anybody else? No, they're keeping this confined to their cantina, and their people. OK? Leave them alone," Rogue_Leader204 spoke more forcefully this time.
"Fine, we'll leave them alone, no problem," Ghent spoke up from somewhere. "Come on guys, we're wasting our time here." Starting up his speeder, Ghent sped off, most of the mods behind him.
Looking around, Lad noticed he only had a few mods left to back him up, JTS being one of them. Reluctantly coming to a decision, he grumbled, "Alright, fine, we'll leave them alone." Rogue_Leader204 covered his relief. He didn't want to look like he'd been desperate. JTS, however, sagged with relief.
"I really didn't feel like doing this today, but Lad's the boss. So, glad we got that taken care of. See ya!" JTS raced off in the direction of Ghent's departing gang, the remainder of the mods, save Lad, following him.
Continuing to grumble, Lad started his speeder and putted away from the cantina, scowling the whole way back to headquarters.

Pilot ducked left to avoid a red blade slashing toward her ear. Without pause she executed a one eighty and sliced through her offender's lightsaber hilt. Scowling, the offender pulled a vibroblade and turned to find a lesser opponent. Pilot glanced around, dual saber held at the ready. It looked as though Anakin's group was slowly being beaten into submission. Anakin himself was still on the floor, nursing his multiple wounds. She was quite certain this was one battle in which they would triumph.

501st managed to knock out one of Anakin's exhausted saber wielders with his sniper stun bolt. Grinning happily, he focused on another, only to notice that this one was headed toward the door. Or what was left of it. Watching him back slowly out of the cantina then turn tail and head back toward his swoop, 501st decided to let him go. He'd already suffered enough humiliation. Besides, who wanted to pick up a whole lot of unconscious guys? He sure didn't. Might as well let them get themselves out of the way.

Maul drove his opponent into a wall, pressing his advantage to the fullest. With a cry of rage, the offender pushed against Maul's blade with all his strength. This gave him a second to slip around Maul's right side and retreat. Blade held in front for protection, the offender backed out the door. When he was out of range of stray bolts, he turned and ran to his swoop. Without waiting for anyone else, he jumped aboard and roared off toward the old cantina.

Mike watched more and more of Anakin's group head out the door. Gar, the demolitions expert, was stumbling out of the cantina when Rogue_Leader204 walked in the door. Glancing at the screen, he smiled.
"At least they're stumbling home instead of into carbon freeze," Rogue-Leader said happily.
"Good job, Leader, you really told those mods," Mike said beaming.
"Nah, it was nothing," Leader replied, dropping into a chair. "None of those mods wanted to be there except Lad. And he's nothing when he doesn't have the other mods to back him up. As you saw."
"Mike's right, though, you really saved those boys' hides," Fett put in.
"And girls," Mike added.
"Yeah, and girls," Fett said, laughing.

Rogue_Nine leaned against the bar, panting. He'd finally gotten the best of his opponent with the vibroblade and now he was out of energy. Glancing around, he noticed that Anakin's troops were beginning to leave in larger and larger numbers. Only the more stubborn were around. The faster they got out, the better. Pushing himself away from the counter, he headed toward an offender that was hacking away at Doug. Their blades locked together, the offender didn't notice Rogue's vibroblade come crashing down toward his shoulder. Yelping in pain, the offender dropped his saber. With the downward momentum he'd gathered from the disappearance of the second blade, Doug barely managed to keep from hacking the offender's arm off. Glaring at the two, the offender snarled something unintelligible before heading out the door.
"Thanks, Rogue, you saved my neck," Doug said.
"Good, we're even," Rogue replied wearily.
"Let's mop up, shall we?"
"You first.

Sith and Anakin were the only two offenders left. Standing shakily to his feet, Sith began limping toward the door. Before he walked out, he turned, lifted his saber in a Jedi salute, and smiled.
"I never thought I'd like you guys, but you earn your respect in your own way," With that, Sith turned and left the cantina.
Grumbling, Anakin stood and turned his back on the defenders. When he reached the door, he turned and glared back at Pilot's gang. Without a word, eyes sparking, Anakin exited the cantina. He proceeded to his swoop where a couple of his troops were still waiting. Starting their speeders, they roared off without a backwards glance.

"Well, I guess that about wraps it up, doesn't it?" Fett said, reaching behind the vid screen to flip it off.
"Yeah, they fought well," Mike agreed.
"And the good guys won," Leader put it. "Just how it's supposed to be." Mike, Fett and the rest of the vets stared at Leader incredulously.
"I thought you weren't taking sides, Leader!" Mike said, exasperated.
"Well we all knew that we didn't want Anakin's guys to win, did we?" Leader said with a smile. They all laughed, except for Mike.
"And here I was afraid to take sides," Mike muttered under his breath.

Pilot extinguished her sabers, dropping her hilt to her belt, where she clipped it on. Turning, she regarded the friends she'd had and the friends she'd made, all of them fighting for the same cause, watching out for each other.
Too tired to do more than smile, the mostly unwounded began to help the critically hurt, bandaging wounds and cleaning up. The original six friends traded smiles all around, shaking hands and generally happy to have won.
Bending to pick up half a lightsaber hilt, Pilot studied it curiously. This had been Anakin's red blade. Glancing back around at her friends, she smiled. Whatever trials came their way, they would always be able to back each other up. She really did have a great life with great friends that were always there for her.
Too bad she didn't know that they were all thinking the same thing.

The End of This Story...
The Beginning of Theirs

I apologize for the format. If anyone would like a better formatted version, just let me know and I can send you an email. _________________
"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker